


Do you see what I see?

by hondagirll



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-18
Updated: 2010-12-18
Packaged: 2020-01-16 12:34:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18521626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hondagirll/pseuds/hondagirll
Summary: Something like a smile pulls at the corners of his mouth, something like affection





	Do you see what I see?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [i_am_girlfriday](https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_am_girlfriday/gifts).



> Written for the 2010 Scorpius/Rose Secret Santa Exchange on LJ | original posting [here](https://smrw-santa.livejournal.com/3644.html)

She’s quiet. Far more quiet than she normally is.

Scorpius sits next to Rose and wonders, glances at her face, checks to make sure she’s all right. Ten minutes ago he entered their flat to find her sitting in front of the Christmas tree, the morose expression on her face ghastly illuminated by the green and gold flickering tree lights. His heart stopped for a moment, thinking something horrible _had_ to have happened for her to be staring at the tree in that way but at his entrance Rose simply gestured him over to her with a head tilt and he obliged, settling gently on the floor next to her.

But now it’s been ten minutes and neither one of them has said a word and Scorpius is worried. Really worried.

He turns. Looks at her, looks her in the eyes. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

She looks away. He grabs her hand.

Her fingers are so small compared to his, her palm soft, her wrist slight. She’s strong and stubborn and usually a force to be reckoned with but tonight she’s unusually delicate and so he holds her in the only way he dares, palm to palm, flesh to flesh, fingers entwined.

“Rose,” he says.

She studies his face in the flickering light. She wants to pull away; he can see it. The way that she wants to pull back, the way she won’t. He sees it. They’ve been best mates since they were twelve, flatmates since they were eighteen and he understands her in ways that sometimes still have the capacity to surprise him.

“Tell me.”

“It’s sort of...” She looks at him from the corner of her eyes, white teeth press into her bottom lip as she brushes strands of hair behind the pale shell of her ear. “Silly, y’know?”

“What is?” he asks, waits for her to bite her lip again and look away again. He waits for that exact turn of her mouth and the unaccustomed dimness in her usually bright eyes. He waits and looks and sees and wonders when exactly this knowledge of all of her expressions came so easily into his mind.

She looks down again at her lap and swallows. Looks like she’s about to cry. He’s seen that look before, he knows it all too well.

“Well?” he asks

“Nothin’,” she lies.

“Rose.”

“It’s nothing.”

She doesn’t release his hand though.

“Rose,” he repeats again, gentler.

Her shoulders shake.

It doesn’t take much, only a slight pressure from his hand onto hers. She leans back, leans against him. His arm fits around her waist and then she turns into him, presses her face into wool that’s always a bit itchy but he wears because it’s warmer than anything else he owns. Hip to hip, thigh against thigh, they sit together in silence in the shadow of the flickering tree lights .

“’m sorry,” she mumbles into his jumper. “I can usually handle it. I can, ‘m just... I dunno, I’ll be all right.”

“Rose,” he says, stroking her back with a touch as gentle as his voice, as gentle as he can possibly make them both. He’s not a gentle man, not a particularly careful man, but when it comes to her, he is. “Talk to me.”

“I miss my mum-” Her words bottle up inside her throat until she swallows them down. “’m twenty years old and its Christmas eve and I miss my mum.”

Something like a smile pulls at the corners of his mouth, something like affection. “Oh Rose,” Scorpius says with soft sigh.

She shakes her head against his shoulder. “I know.” She sniffles, tries to pulls away but he keeps an arm around her shoulders and doesn’t let her go. “Forget it. It’s stupid, really.”

Exasperation and annoyance vie with concern. “What’s that supposed to mean ‘it’s stupid’? Of course it’s not stupid. It’s your mum.”

“But I feel… _foolish_. I mean, it’s not like she’s dead or anything. I can floo her or even pick up my mobile and call her, anytime I want. Though she hasn’t been answering lately,” Rose says, finally pulling away from him and staring straight ahead. “She’s busy with work and so am I and we…we keep missing each other.”

“It’s must be hard.”

“It is.” She reaches for his hand again, squeezes tight, almost desperately as her eyes meet his. “I know it’s silly but it’s almost Christmas and I haven’t seen her since June and I…”

“…you miss her,” Scorpius finishes for her in a quiet breath.

“Yeah.”

There’s a silence between them. Scorpius remembers their days at Hogwarts and all her letters to him during the winter hols. Letters that told of snowball fight and hot cocoa and numerous cousins and he wonders why he didn’t notice it sooner, didn’t notice the quietness, didn’t notice the sadness that, looking back, had been steadily coming over her for almost a week now.

“It could be worse,” he tells her, thinking of the first thing that came to mind, “you could be missing Albus ‘stead of your mum.”

No sooner are the words are out of his mouth, then she’s laughing. One startled blink and then laughter, _laughter_ , and a shove at his arm.

“You,” she says. “Oh my god, you- you’re just- You’re-” She shakes her head, cutting herself off with a small smile and Scorpius is relieved.

“I’m what?” he questions, eyebrows raising.

“You’re you,” she replies, grinning.

“Most of the time, anyways.”

“Wanker.”

Her eyes are red, and her face is wet as she rolls her eyes in exasperation and that’s what beauty is, Scorpius thinks suddenly, real beauty. And it’s Rose. Rose in her Christmas jumper that’s seen better days, messy hair and a heart that’s breaking because it’s the night before Christmas and she misses her mum. 

“Thank you,” she says and he shrugs at her, suddenly awkward. He gives her another grin though and although the one she gives back is smaller and albeit a lot more shaky than his, it’s still a grin.

And that’s an improvement.  


...............

 

Three hours later Scorpius finds himself outside a small house. Tiny stands of glimmering lights cover the fence and door, holly hangs over the windows but the house is dark and still and for a moment, Scorpius does not know why he is there.

Because Rose was so sad, his mind answers for him. Because he sat with her and brightened her up and he wants her to be happy because he needs more of that in his life.

He wants her to be happy because he hates to see her any other way.

Taking a deep breath, Scorpius walks forward and climbs up the steps. He raises the knocker, letting it drop and listens to the sound vibrate loudly against the doorframe. From behind the door, he can hear the faint sounds of movement and as the movement grows closer, he takes a step back. The door creaks opens, and light suddenly floods the small garden as Scorpius clasps his hands behind his back and rocks on his heels.

“Hello Mr Weasley,” Scorpius says politely with a small nod. “May I come in?”


End file.
